Sunny D
🌟 Site Supporter
- RP Date
- YE 45.4
- RP Location
- YSS Resurgence
YSS Resurgence
YE 45.4
Not exactly how Erika imagined her transfer. A mixture of feelings, previously suppressed by her adrenaline induced battle trance, began to well up inside her. Pride in her self-evaluation, anxiety if her new crew mates agreed with her self-assessment, exhaustion after the long battle.
There was one emotion that overrode it all however, disgust.
The sharp spines along the Mishhuvurthyar’s tentacle were thankfully unable to do little more than scratch the finish on her MINDY, but the feeling of it groping her second skin was a sensation she didn’t relish having to carry a memory.
More than anything Erika wanted a shower. The quick wash of her MINDY armour before she exited it was somewhat gratifying. The blood and viscera was blasted from its surface by a high pressure cleaner, and Erika, in her fatigued state, found herself mesmerised as the red swirls they flowed towards a drain. She felt a sense of gratification once the water dripping from her armour was no longer stained. She gave the technician a wordless nod of appreciation before she went to doff the suit.
She collected her bag, the renaissance being kind enough to transport it over, and accessing the ships network as she walked for her next task. No duties were currently listed, though her cabin assignment had been filled out. Erika wondered if the little fanfare she had been received with was out of ambivalence to her presence or recognition of the ordeal she’d just been through. Even a lowly Santo Hei should have had someone greet her and give her a basic induction, but she was grateful for it. She wordlessly asked the ships AI for directions to her cabin.
There she stripped, removing her body suit damp with sweat almost the second her duffel hit the ground. Still her training made her take in her environment. Four beds, so likely she was sharing, though the rest of her thoughts were background noise. Among the other things she mentally began catalogue were the locations of possible improvised weapons, points of egress and ingress, and areas of concealment. She pulled a plastic bag from her duffel to contain her sweat laden body suit to mitigate her intrusion into someone’s living space, followed by a robe and toiletries before she headed back out towards the showers.
Quick on Erika's heels without meaning to be was the other SAINT agent aboard the ship. Though Mineko had been on board a handful of months already, the transfer of Renaissance personnel meant she was finally not the newest recruit on the ship. Seeing the duffel in her room, she dipped into the ship roster to check if her new roommate was the operative she had seen in battle or the infantry woman. Part of her tried to not hope for one or another, but her brows jutted into her bangs as her digital mind pulled up the fresh cabin assignments.
Mineko looked into the hallway and the bottom of her double bun flopped over her shoulder as she did. Her hands went up to loosen the ropey tie in her hair as she jogged out of her cabin to catch up with the tailwind of the new recruit.
"Hey again," were Mineko's first words as she nervously looked around the room she had followed Erika into, wondering if she was intruding or not. "I wanted to say great job out there," Miineko said with a lean into the door frame that didn't betray her concern over any invasion of Erika's privacy. "I know it's not your first time in the field, but it was nice to work alongside you all the same."
The returning Erika was a little more pink than she was when she left, the shower having been particularly hot. Her hair was now enshrouded by a large towel, a white cloth halo that contrasted vividly with her rosier complexion."Thank you for the complement." She said, somehow summoning the energy for a smile.
"You're welcome, thanks for being game to jump in to help the Resurgence. If you want a look around the ship or need anything at all, I've got you." Mineko nodded along as she spoke, feeling a bit out of place in her thick jacket and uniform. At least Erika didn't seem put off, though, so the analyst felt more at ease than we she had beforehand.
Erika looked down at her self, the white robe which ended one third the way down her thigh the only thing covering her body. She gave Mineko a bemused grin. "As much as I am keen to poke around my new home, I am prehaps not in the best state." She said with a slight chuckle. "Can you give me 5 minutes? I feel knowing the fastest way to get to the mess is top priority information."
The nonchalance Mineko was met with was a farcry from the intensity of the operative she had seen on the battlefield. She didn't discount the need for a good rest when taking in Erika's unhurried nature and didn't want to bar her from her cabin. She pushed herself off of the door frame slowly and led into the hallway, talking more casually as she went.
"Whatever you need, even if it's a nap." Mineko's mind went to the ship systems and the crawlspaces around the hull as she walked back to their cabin. "I could help out with ship repairs and show you around later if you want." Outside of their door she stepped aside, but was sure to add, "Oh, we share a room, by the way."
“I could have guessed.” Erika said with a smirk “Would be strange if you had barred a scantily clad woman’s entry to her room otherwise.” Her expression softened “Honestly, I was thinking about a nap but.” She sighed, looking down at Mineko’s uniform for a moment. “You went through the training. ‘Survey the land and determine points of tactical interest’. Now you’ve mentioned it, the training is kicking in.” She held up a hand with all fingers extended. "5 minutes, I'll grab a juice and join you."
Mineko flashed her fingers, "Five minutes, then, before I give you the lay of the land." In all honesty, she was planning on being more generous with the time. "Want me to take your spent uniform to the laundry down the hall?" She offered, knowing Erika likely changed out of one and that she needed something to do to kill that time while she waited.
“If you wish. Thanks.” Erika said, stepping forward to pick up the bag before tossing it towards Mineko with little fanfare. Before the smaller Neko even had the chance to catch it Erika was already in the process of collecting any loose moisture around her face, and vigorously rubbing her hair dry. She wouldn’t be ready for inspection in those five minutes, but she would certainly presentable. And if she saw any officers, well, a good opportunity to flex her stealth skills.
Mineko made a soft grunt in reply, already out of the door frame and walking down the hall. Because she was really taking her time about it, she sauntered slowly as her thoughts jumped quickly. Even though she had known the ship’s new operative for only a minute or two, there was a flexibility and informal understanding between the two that made Mineko feel at ease. It reminded her of the harmonious feeling of getting Erika’s ping on the Resurgence’s hull and taking the last shots on the operative’s opponent.
The analyst reflected on this and then thought of the least serene moment of battle she had experienced a few days ago. She thought of Mishhuvurthyar tentacles impaling grey paneled chests and the captain so quickly being pressed up against the beast only to be devoured even faster. The analyst stood still in front of the washing machine, squeezing the plastic bag firmly as she recalled how different things could be. Pulling herself out of the moment, she added Erika's spent uniform to another waiting load and closed the door to the machine before turning down the hall, her steps faster than they had been before.
The towel muffled her hair, the strands tangling into wild curls from the friction. She blew at her bangs out the side of her mouth, annoyed, making a mental note to order a hair dryer with her next pay. She jumped into another intel black body suit, quickly zipped it up and tossed a black field jacket over the top. She finally grabbed a supplement bag and a comb from her bag, holding the bag from her teeth as she combed her hair.
“Ready” Erika said, stepping out, her voice muffled by the container hanging from her incisor.
"Ready?"Mineko repeated. "Ah, you're a fan of the field jacket, too?" she asked, both surprised and pleased to see Erika had picked up on the more niche uniform element. "I grew up on Yamatai and I'll be honest with you, starships run a little cold too often for my taste. Field jacket's a cozy combatant to those temps."
Erika shrugged with a smile. "Personally it has more to do with breaking the line." she looked down "These body suits are comfortable, but very... sheer. Tends to draw the eyes of civilians, you know? I've got a hard enough time blending in being head and shoulders above most." She chuckled. "But yeah, its in the regs, why not?" She said.
With that she was more or less satisfied with her hair and pulled it into a ponytail behind her head, still slightly damp. The comb was pocketed and she held the bag in her hand.
"I guess we've all got our reasons," Mineko said jovially. "You could always use skin-based holographics to do something about that. I don't know what exactly, though," Mineko feigned ignorance on the subject poorly. Being one to preemptively cover up rather than catch unwanted attention was a type of camouflaging she could no longer separate from her own desires and what could be useful in fieldwork.
The denial garnered a side eye from Erika, but what ever she was thinking, she remained silent.
Mineko began the tour in earnest by starting, "Ah, this is the med bay, kind of busy right now so we won't go in." Mineko said after having walked them to the front of the ship. "That door is lower engineering," she pointed towards the rear of the ship, where they had come, "And up," She pointed a finger up and took some steps towards the concave cylinder cut out in the corner of the hallway, "Is where we're going. If we went down we'd shoot out right next to the wardroom, where we share meals. You didn't mean that's top priority because you're hungry, right?!" Mineko's voice had gone from carefree to concerned with her last question, realizing that Erika might have needed more than a juice to sustain her post-battle.
"The rule of 3, right?" Erika said, her head turning for a moment to smile at Mineko. "3 minutes with out air, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water and 30 days without food, well more like 10, 3, 3, 90 for a Gene Modded NH-33," Her tone became inscrutable for a moment, "but its not as memorable." She shrugged. "We have the first 3 covered, I can drink out of the shower faucet if I get stuck."
Mineko had already stepped into the vertical passageway and immediately her loosened hair floated upwards. Soon after, her body began to drift higher in the zero gravity passageway pulled her upwards. "It might even help dry your hair off even more... Or mess it up, we'll have to find out!"
"I'm glad to be your lab rat." Erika said, dryly with an almost sarcastic inflection to her intonation, stepping into that passage with a quick kick of her feet.
The zero g environment had little effect initially, Erika's still damp hair congealed together and in fact stayed rather rigid.
"I'm glad I can be your scientist," Mineko replied, looking up from Erika to pull herself out of the tube and get off on the deck above. "The bridge is behind us where the med bay was below. Then —surprise— upper engineering is there. The real reason for showing you this deck is the onsen, though. They don't have these during the rule of three. Not at all."
As Erika caught herself on the decks bulkhead lips thinned and her eyes widened as she nodded at the revelation. "Agreed, this is the most vital area of the ship, no doubt." Her expression relaxed a little "I thought I'd have to wait until we swung into port to have a good soak. Shame I just showered and threw my clothes back on."
"I was just thinking the same thing," Mineko agreed. "I wish I had caught you sooner. But this way you get to see the less vital parts of the ship, too." She had opened a door to the center of the ship and walked past the inlet meant for showering before getting into the steamy room with a round pool set into its corner. At the place where it met the wall and there was a gap was a red maple tree, trained to be just under Mineko's height. The walls and floor were brightly paneled wood and the fragrance of cedar that clung to the wet air betrayed their origin.
It was in the onsen that Mineko said, "I've never worked alongside another SAINT. It was," she had looked up into Erika's golden eyes, but now looked away as she searched for the right words. "It was refreshing. Have you worked with others before this deployment?"
Mineko had scrutinized every Resurgence crew record, but Erika's had gaps—even to another of her occupation. Working on a SIFT wasn't common knowledge and Mineko was not on a need-to-know basis when it came to Erika's full record of her first support experience. She knew the tertiary information and that was it. Something about the way she asked wasn't prying for information she shouldn't know; she was simply hoping to relate to someone and perhaps feel understood.
"I'm pretty fresh out of the vats. Still think I have some hemosynthetic amnion behind the ears." Erika said, wiping behind one of her pointed auricles with a finger. "I've done a tour attached to a Rikugun unit. Mainly long range observation and overwatch support." She took in a deep breath, her chest expanding, swelling with air before she let it go. "First live combat thought. Found out I'm not much of a talker in the thick of it. But can still ping a target on the net it seems."
"Yeah, you were very much in the zone for a first time." Mineko was buoyed by Erika's answer and her tone was more chipper than it had been. She had sat down on the edge of the pool, wanting to take a moment's pause. It hadn't even been an hour since the battle they were now probing into. The analyst dipped her fingers into the warm water and as she leaned, even more of her thick hair fell over her shoulder.
Mineko said, "You were kind of a menace, actually. To the enemy, that is. I think I like that style of communication best during live combat. Nothing extraneous, nothing to over-analyze. Just the fact of the matter: a target to down."
Erika had crouched down to feel the temperature of the water when Mineko’s comment caused her to chuckle softly. “You’ll make me blush if you’re not careful.” Erika replied with a slight smile. Her head then turned towards Minkeo, her brow furrowing as her smile went wide “We are Nekovalkyria, born and grown to defend the Empire and defeat its enemies. There's no need for big speeches; point, shoot, and if you don’t have a gun big enough to take it down, gouge out its eyes and come back with a bigger one. Or mark it for one of your sisters take the glory.”
"When you put it like that, it sounds so natural," Mineko said, looking to Erika with a smile. "I think for a long time I wasn't expected to be a warrior. Then when I signed up, I was hoping to do more of the cerebral side of things. Fighting felt less than natural my first time... and second. So I stuck myself on the bridge to avoid it." The analyst felt embarassed now and cast her gaze to her hands as she flicked the water off of them. As she said her next words, her mind again went to Aoba and Kalena dying on the bridge. "But that was stupid of me. The fighting just followed me there... with a vengeance."
Mineko shook out her head, trying to muster a smile to give to Erika. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's nice for it to have felt like it's supposed to. I hope I'm making sense and don't sound like a pansy. I prefer thinking things through rather than brawling through them. But it's comforting to know there's a satisfaction in gouging the enemies eyes out... Well, I guess I just point and shot, but you get it." She desperately hoped Erika did get it, but a nagging part of Mineko believed she wouldn't.
Erika rolled back, her backside contacting the ground as she got comfortable beside Mineko and took a deep breath before letting out an exhausted sigh. “Mineko, I’m not even 2 years old, as I said, fresh out of the vat. There is a lot that I don’t know yet, a lot that I never want to know. What I think is that we all have our parts to play, we each have our own battlefield, not all of them are on the front lines. Maybe we're thrust there anyway and we just have do our best.”
Erika's words were gratifying to Mineko and had the same composed yet flexible air to them that she was coming to appreciate from the operative. She pondered them as she looked wistfully at the red-leafed bonsai in the corner, considering how much less she wanted to overthink everything she did and wanted to do. Not a moment into the act, she realized the problem with thinking about overthinking. If Mineko were to take Erika's words to heart, not everything was meant to be analyzed.
"You're pretty wise for a two year old." Mineko said.
Erika chortled "If you compare me to a fortune cookie perhaps."
With a sigh of her own, she had copied Erika and laid back. Now she was looking at the fog between her and the ceiling, her thoughts almost as empty as the pale visage before her. "Sorry to lay that all on you. Been dealing with what it's like to know the stuff you never want to know." She repeated Erika's words, but didn't let the memory of the bridge dying around her from days ago creep back into her consciousness.
Instead Mineko asked, "Anything you do want to know? I guess a better question is, anything you want to see? Or places you want to go?"
Erika closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath "I want to go to a desert." She said wistfully "Pleanty of supplies, an enclosed vehicle with air conditioning, sure. But there is just something about driving into an endless expanse of shifting sand I feel appealing. Snowball fight is also up there, Arctic SERE training was very serious business. Something about temperature extremes I like. Don't know what it is. Sakura trees in Autumn," she began to list off on her fingers, "an Aurora. Oh! I want to learn how to cook!" The last one Erika said excitedly.
A pleasant smile had appeared on Mineko's pale face and she hummed happily as Erika listed off what she would like to see and do in her future. She had put her hands behind her head and her blue and red eyes had closed happily.
"If we're both still on the ship come Year End Holidays, I'll take you to Kaiko park for a snowball fight. I can't guarantee the people throwing the snowballs at you won't be overly serious, though. They've got a good reputation for Hanami there, too, but Year End is sooner. The rest of your list, well I think you'll get 'thrust there anyway' or whatever it is you said." Mineko laughed at her reiteration.
"Perks of the job." Erika replied with a grin.
"The least I can do is show you to the wardroom as the galley's connected. The ship chef isn't who I would learn to cook from, so I'd recommend practicing alone." Mineko had stood and stretched her arms out, inhaling deeply. Something in her ached for a longer stretch, which reminded her, "Up one deck are places to get a workout in like the dojo and VR room, but also a second monitoring room. Think second bridge in case the first one is compromised. Or if you want to work at a bridge console and also be in the plushest most comfortable chair in the ship. Either or, that's the place to go. If you want to go up, I can show you. Otherwise I'll send you some of my memories of walking the hallways to get to each of those places."
"Probably the wardroom, despite your glowing review." Erika lifted her legs up in the air and planted her hands down either side of her head. She then pushed off the ground, her body gaining enough air time for her to pull her legs in, tuck them under and get to her feet. "Need to think about getting well rested before my first duty shift at this post. Make a good first impression and all that. Memories are fine,” her lips then curled into a smirk, “and out of respect for my fellow SAINT, I won’t resort to deceit and be upfront; I will likely over-analyse them for any interesting information you forgot to scrub.”
Walking down the hallway, Mineko's laughter spilled out of her unexpectedly. She had begun to sweep her own memories for any superfluous recollections from up above, just to give Erika something more to think about.
"I appreciate the honesty and am relieved to know you've got a knack for overanalyzing like me. Along with a knack for pummeling the enemy and maintaining a cool attitude, it's impressive." Though Mineko only identified with the former attribute, she did imply the rest applied to her when she said, "It's nice to not be alone on those fronts." They were down the zero g passageway faster than Mineko expected and she was suprised to smell dinner being made a bit earlier than usual. There was a buffet spread set out for crewmen to pick at after battle. She had said her last words upon entering the wardroom, which had a few Resurgence crew tucking into heaping piles of food.
Erika shrugged "Maybe I just hide my terror better."
"Maybe, something to think about," Mineko said, not sure if she meant whether she or Erika should think on it. "Are those meatballs?" Mineko asked from afar, honing in on the protein. Mineko used the digital telepathy again to coverlty further share her true feelings about the lack of clean eating aboard the Resurgence, "The meals here are more Nepleslian than Yamataian, I swear."
Erika chuckled softly, watching as Mineko meticulously navigated her way around the tangled nest of pasta to rescue the meatballs. “Can’t say I disapprove, though pasta is sometimes alright.” She said wordlessly over the link, dishing out her own serving, though with a much smaller pasta to meatball ratio than the chief had intended. “I had gnocchi once; the texture was divine. Also, can’t go past a good beef ramen bowl.” With the coms she also shared her recollections of those meals as she collected a pair of chopsticks.
"It's really that good?!" Mineko said aloud, mouth agape afterwards. "Maybe I'll have to try some, I know there are some near the park that my friends back on Yamatai liked. I will say there's nothing like warm miso soup on a cold day, so it's gotta be something we hit up after a snowball match." After meticulously pulled them from the tangled mess of spaghetti noodles they were surrounded by.She spooned on some steamed greens before waiting for Erika and carrying her plate to one of the tables near the center of the wardroom.
"Check it out," Mineko paused and purposefully stubbed her toe against the porthole of clear zesuaium on the wardroom's floor, then sat down. "Starships don't have a lot of windows, but rumor is that Hanako wanted a window in the floor of wardrooms so when you're orbiting a planet, you can see it below. Reason the wardroom is on the bottom deck and all, too." Through the window in the flooring stars raced by as the Resurgence sped towards home.
"I did notice." Erika smirked, taking a quick glance down. "My stomach dropped through my feet when we stepped in, but I didn't say a thing as 'I don't want you to think I'm a panzy'." Her voice lowered to a breathless whisper as she repeated Minkeo's earlier comment back. "Acrophobics need not apply I suppose, but I bet you get great views of auroras during a polar orbit."
"So no squirrel suit aerial dives with you, then, I got it!" Mineko noted.
"Oh hell no, you're not leaving me out! I live for that!" Erika protested enthusiastically. She dropped her plate across the table from Mineko, taking the disposable chopsticks from their wrapper. She bashed the end of them on the table, pulling them apart at the same time, causing them to perfectly split down the middle. The lower one then danced in her hand to orient itself correctly while she brought the other over to the top. She pinched a meat ball with the sticks and practically tossed it in her mouth before humming pleasantly at the taste.
"So is it just the excessive carbs or is there something I'm missing?" Erika said over the link as she chewed, relaying the flavorsome tomato sauce and succulent meat she was experiencing along with it.
Though Mineko had been munching along on her own food, she crinkled her nose when the topic of her food preferences came up and Erika relayed the taste of the meal on her plate.
"Somehow that doesn't feel as tasty as the gnocchi. It's just so heavy, all of it!" Mineko said through their mind link. "Like I mentioned, I lived on Yamatai awhile. I took dance lessons when I was in the orphanage and I kept at them and lived in the okiya, or lodging, of my instructor. There I ate whatever they fed me. It was usually some flat fish, pickled vegetables, and broth, nothing too heavy. On holidays and special occasions, we'd have red bean rice and sea bream, though," she said this with crescent shaped eyes as her recollection had brough a smile to her face that raised up to her eyes.
Out of her reverie, she became a bit more self aware, "Do I sound like a picky eater? I'm not! I guess it's more about what I'm used to. This heavy sort of cooking Rossa's so good at makes it hard to move or even think, though. I guess it's a carb thing, but also an everything else thing. How am I alone in this?!" At the last part Mineko hung her head back and looked at Erika with feigned anguish splashed across her features.
Erika covered her mouth as she stifled a laugh. "No no, I get it. I will often gravitate towards leaner meals myself. Gotta stay light on my feet. Saying that," she sighed wistfully, looking off to the side, "there is nothing like having something heavy and going into a food coma after a long op." her gaze returned to her meal as she took another meatball between her chopsticks "I have yet to suffer through even one meal aboard this ship, so I'll refrain from condemning your pallet until I've settled into the routine, eh?"
"That's a good point," Mineko said, again considering Erika's flexibility a boon conversationally. "Wait until you've been here a week, then we'll see. Speaking of, crazy first hour or so aboard for you. I won't think you're a pansy you were even the eensiest bit freaked."
"I just have a high surface tension. The waters are turbulent beneath" Erika replied with a somewhat melancholic smile on her face before taking a breath. "Today was a blur, I've yet to process it all. Who know's? Tomorrow I might have a break down and they have to restore me from a back up. But in the moment, I was trained for it, I was made for it, I just did what came naturally... or rather what was engineered."
There was then a pause, she spent a few moments looking at the plate a few strands of spaghetti wrapped around a meatball. She then pushed the plate from her before looking up at Mineko with a thin smile. "Thanks for the tour Mineko. I think I'm going to turn in."
The analyst's own eyes fell on the spaghetti and meatballs on the operative's plate silently, taking in Erika's words. Mineko's mind went to what Erika might be thinking and put her own utensil down, not taking another bite.
"Still waters run deep," Mineko said aloud in a quiet voice barren of inflection. Mineko had seen others on the ship verging on break downs or reaching them, but something told her Erika wouldn't be the next to succumb. Even if the horrors of war and burdens of memories fell on their shoulders, something about their shared panel color made Mineko believe they had to hold a strong face for the rest of the crew. If the person who's supposed to know everything and can do anything betrays hesitation, how would that affect them?
Changing the subject, she added, "The bunk above me is open and so is Sanda's. She's the ranger with the blue on her face and sharing our room. Get some rest, though. You deserved it. And thanks for being so cool. We just met but it feels like I've known you awhile." It made Mineko feel less alone to say this and feel it, too.
"Thank you for the tour." Erika said with a genuine smile as she got to her feet "I'll be relying on you senpai." She stuck her hand out with a peace sign as she gave Mineko a wink as she exited the ward room.
= = =
JP END
= = =
OOC: JP by Ametheliana and Sunny D
YE 45.4
Not exactly how Erika imagined her transfer. A mixture of feelings, previously suppressed by her adrenaline induced battle trance, began to well up inside her. Pride in her self-evaluation, anxiety if her new crew mates agreed with her self-assessment, exhaustion after the long battle.
There was one emotion that overrode it all however, disgust.
The sharp spines along the Mishhuvurthyar’s tentacle were thankfully unable to do little more than scratch the finish on her MINDY, but the feeling of it groping her second skin was a sensation she didn’t relish having to carry a memory.
More than anything Erika wanted a shower. The quick wash of her MINDY armour before she exited it was somewhat gratifying. The blood and viscera was blasted from its surface by a high pressure cleaner, and Erika, in her fatigued state, found herself mesmerised as the red swirls they flowed towards a drain. She felt a sense of gratification once the water dripping from her armour was no longer stained. She gave the technician a wordless nod of appreciation before she went to doff the suit.
She collected her bag, the renaissance being kind enough to transport it over, and accessing the ships network as she walked for her next task. No duties were currently listed, though her cabin assignment had been filled out. Erika wondered if the little fanfare she had been received with was out of ambivalence to her presence or recognition of the ordeal she’d just been through. Even a lowly Santo Hei should have had someone greet her and give her a basic induction, but she was grateful for it. She wordlessly asked the ships AI for directions to her cabin.
There she stripped, removing her body suit damp with sweat almost the second her duffel hit the ground. Still her training made her take in her environment. Four beds, so likely she was sharing, though the rest of her thoughts were background noise. Among the other things she mentally began catalogue were the locations of possible improvised weapons, points of egress and ingress, and areas of concealment. She pulled a plastic bag from her duffel to contain her sweat laden body suit to mitigate her intrusion into someone’s living space, followed by a robe and toiletries before she headed back out towards the showers.
Quick on Erika's heels without meaning to be was the other SAINT agent aboard the ship. Though Mineko had been on board a handful of months already, the transfer of Renaissance personnel meant she was finally not the newest recruit on the ship. Seeing the duffel in her room, she dipped into the ship roster to check if her new roommate was the operative she had seen in battle or the infantry woman. Part of her tried to not hope for one or another, but her brows jutted into her bangs as her digital mind pulled up the fresh cabin assignments.
Mineko looked into the hallway and the bottom of her double bun flopped over her shoulder as she did. Her hands went up to loosen the ropey tie in her hair as she jogged out of her cabin to catch up with the tailwind of the new recruit.
"Hey again," were Mineko's first words as she nervously looked around the room she had followed Erika into, wondering if she was intruding or not. "I wanted to say great job out there," Miineko said with a lean into the door frame that didn't betray her concern over any invasion of Erika's privacy. "I know it's not your first time in the field, but it was nice to work alongside you all the same."
The returning Erika was a little more pink than she was when she left, the shower having been particularly hot. Her hair was now enshrouded by a large towel, a white cloth halo that contrasted vividly with her rosier complexion."Thank you for the complement." She said, somehow summoning the energy for a smile.
"You're welcome, thanks for being game to jump in to help the Resurgence. If you want a look around the ship or need anything at all, I've got you." Mineko nodded along as she spoke, feeling a bit out of place in her thick jacket and uniform. At least Erika didn't seem put off, though, so the analyst felt more at ease than we she had beforehand.
Erika looked down at her self, the white robe which ended one third the way down her thigh the only thing covering her body. She gave Mineko a bemused grin. "As much as I am keen to poke around my new home, I am prehaps not in the best state." She said with a slight chuckle. "Can you give me 5 minutes? I feel knowing the fastest way to get to the mess is top priority information."
The nonchalance Mineko was met with was a farcry from the intensity of the operative she had seen on the battlefield. She didn't discount the need for a good rest when taking in Erika's unhurried nature and didn't want to bar her from her cabin. She pushed herself off of the door frame slowly and led into the hallway, talking more casually as she went.
"Whatever you need, even if it's a nap." Mineko's mind went to the ship systems and the crawlspaces around the hull as she walked back to their cabin. "I could help out with ship repairs and show you around later if you want." Outside of their door she stepped aside, but was sure to add, "Oh, we share a room, by the way."
“I could have guessed.” Erika said with a smirk “Would be strange if you had barred a scantily clad woman’s entry to her room otherwise.” Her expression softened “Honestly, I was thinking about a nap but.” She sighed, looking down at Mineko’s uniform for a moment. “You went through the training. ‘Survey the land and determine points of tactical interest’. Now you’ve mentioned it, the training is kicking in.” She held up a hand with all fingers extended. "5 minutes, I'll grab a juice and join you."
Mineko flashed her fingers, "Five minutes, then, before I give you the lay of the land." In all honesty, she was planning on being more generous with the time. "Want me to take your spent uniform to the laundry down the hall?" She offered, knowing Erika likely changed out of one and that she needed something to do to kill that time while she waited.
“If you wish. Thanks.” Erika said, stepping forward to pick up the bag before tossing it towards Mineko with little fanfare. Before the smaller Neko even had the chance to catch it Erika was already in the process of collecting any loose moisture around her face, and vigorously rubbing her hair dry. She wouldn’t be ready for inspection in those five minutes, but she would certainly presentable. And if she saw any officers, well, a good opportunity to flex her stealth skills.
Mineko made a soft grunt in reply, already out of the door frame and walking down the hall. Because she was really taking her time about it, she sauntered slowly as her thoughts jumped quickly. Even though she had known the ship’s new operative for only a minute or two, there was a flexibility and informal understanding between the two that made Mineko feel at ease. It reminded her of the harmonious feeling of getting Erika’s ping on the Resurgence’s hull and taking the last shots on the operative’s opponent.
The analyst reflected on this and then thought of the least serene moment of battle she had experienced a few days ago. She thought of Mishhuvurthyar tentacles impaling grey paneled chests and the captain so quickly being pressed up against the beast only to be devoured even faster. The analyst stood still in front of the washing machine, squeezing the plastic bag firmly as she recalled how different things could be. Pulling herself out of the moment, she added Erika's spent uniform to another waiting load and closed the door to the machine before turning down the hall, her steps faster than they had been before.
The towel muffled her hair, the strands tangling into wild curls from the friction. She blew at her bangs out the side of her mouth, annoyed, making a mental note to order a hair dryer with her next pay. She jumped into another intel black body suit, quickly zipped it up and tossed a black field jacket over the top. She finally grabbed a supplement bag and a comb from her bag, holding the bag from her teeth as she combed her hair.
“Ready” Erika said, stepping out, her voice muffled by the container hanging from her incisor.
"Ready?"Mineko repeated. "Ah, you're a fan of the field jacket, too?" she asked, both surprised and pleased to see Erika had picked up on the more niche uniform element. "I grew up on Yamatai and I'll be honest with you, starships run a little cold too often for my taste. Field jacket's a cozy combatant to those temps."
Erika shrugged with a smile. "Personally it has more to do with breaking the line." she looked down "These body suits are comfortable, but very... sheer. Tends to draw the eyes of civilians, you know? I've got a hard enough time blending in being head and shoulders above most." She chuckled. "But yeah, its in the regs, why not?" She said.
With that she was more or less satisfied with her hair and pulled it into a ponytail behind her head, still slightly damp. The comb was pocketed and she held the bag in her hand.
"I guess we've all got our reasons," Mineko said jovially. "You could always use skin-based holographics to do something about that. I don't know what exactly, though," Mineko feigned ignorance on the subject poorly. Being one to preemptively cover up rather than catch unwanted attention was a type of camouflaging she could no longer separate from her own desires and what could be useful in fieldwork.
The denial garnered a side eye from Erika, but what ever she was thinking, she remained silent.
Mineko began the tour in earnest by starting, "Ah, this is the med bay, kind of busy right now so we won't go in." Mineko said after having walked them to the front of the ship. "That door is lower engineering," she pointed towards the rear of the ship, where they had come, "And up," She pointed a finger up and took some steps towards the concave cylinder cut out in the corner of the hallway, "Is where we're going. If we went down we'd shoot out right next to the wardroom, where we share meals. You didn't mean that's top priority because you're hungry, right?!" Mineko's voice had gone from carefree to concerned with her last question, realizing that Erika might have needed more than a juice to sustain her post-battle.
"The rule of 3, right?" Erika said, her head turning for a moment to smile at Mineko. "3 minutes with out air, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water and 30 days without food, well more like 10, 3, 3, 90 for a Gene Modded NH-33," Her tone became inscrutable for a moment, "but its not as memorable." She shrugged. "We have the first 3 covered, I can drink out of the shower faucet if I get stuck."
Mineko had already stepped into the vertical passageway and immediately her loosened hair floated upwards. Soon after, her body began to drift higher in the zero gravity passageway pulled her upwards. "It might even help dry your hair off even more... Or mess it up, we'll have to find out!"
"I'm glad to be your lab rat." Erika said, dryly with an almost sarcastic inflection to her intonation, stepping into that passage with a quick kick of her feet.
The zero g environment had little effect initially, Erika's still damp hair congealed together and in fact stayed rather rigid.
"I'm glad I can be your scientist," Mineko replied, looking up from Erika to pull herself out of the tube and get off on the deck above. "The bridge is behind us where the med bay was below. Then —surprise— upper engineering is there. The real reason for showing you this deck is the onsen, though. They don't have these during the rule of three. Not at all."
As Erika caught herself on the decks bulkhead lips thinned and her eyes widened as she nodded at the revelation. "Agreed, this is the most vital area of the ship, no doubt." Her expression relaxed a little "I thought I'd have to wait until we swung into port to have a good soak. Shame I just showered and threw my clothes back on."
"I was just thinking the same thing," Mineko agreed. "I wish I had caught you sooner. But this way you get to see the less vital parts of the ship, too." She had opened a door to the center of the ship and walked past the inlet meant for showering before getting into the steamy room with a round pool set into its corner. At the place where it met the wall and there was a gap was a red maple tree, trained to be just under Mineko's height. The walls and floor were brightly paneled wood and the fragrance of cedar that clung to the wet air betrayed their origin.
It was in the onsen that Mineko said, "I've never worked alongside another SAINT. It was," she had looked up into Erika's golden eyes, but now looked away as she searched for the right words. "It was refreshing. Have you worked with others before this deployment?"
Mineko had scrutinized every Resurgence crew record, but Erika's had gaps—even to another of her occupation. Working on a SIFT wasn't common knowledge and Mineko was not on a need-to-know basis when it came to Erika's full record of her first support experience. She knew the tertiary information and that was it. Something about the way she asked wasn't prying for information she shouldn't know; she was simply hoping to relate to someone and perhaps feel understood.
"I'm pretty fresh out of the vats. Still think I have some hemosynthetic amnion behind the ears." Erika said, wiping behind one of her pointed auricles with a finger. "I've done a tour attached to a Rikugun unit. Mainly long range observation and overwatch support." She took in a deep breath, her chest expanding, swelling with air before she let it go. "First live combat thought. Found out I'm not much of a talker in the thick of it. But can still ping a target on the net it seems."
"Yeah, you were very much in the zone for a first time." Mineko was buoyed by Erika's answer and her tone was more chipper than it had been. She had sat down on the edge of the pool, wanting to take a moment's pause. It hadn't even been an hour since the battle they were now probing into. The analyst dipped her fingers into the warm water and as she leaned, even more of her thick hair fell over her shoulder.
Mineko said, "You were kind of a menace, actually. To the enemy, that is. I think I like that style of communication best during live combat. Nothing extraneous, nothing to over-analyze. Just the fact of the matter: a target to down."
Erika had crouched down to feel the temperature of the water when Mineko’s comment caused her to chuckle softly. “You’ll make me blush if you’re not careful.” Erika replied with a slight smile. Her head then turned towards Minkeo, her brow furrowing as her smile went wide “We are Nekovalkyria, born and grown to defend the Empire and defeat its enemies. There's no need for big speeches; point, shoot, and if you don’t have a gun big enough to take it down, gouge out its eyes and come back with a bigger one. Or mark it for one of your sisters take the glory.”
"When you put it like that, it sounds so natural," Mineko said, looking to Erika with a smile. "I think for a long time I wasn't expected to be a warrior. Then when I signed up, I was hoping to do more of the cerebral side of things. Fighting felt less than natural my first time... and second. So I stuck myself on the bridge to avoid it." The analyst felt embarassed now and cast her gaze to her hands as she flicked the water off of them. As she said her next words, her mind again went to Aoba and Kalena dying on the bridge. "But that was stupid of me. The fighting just followed me there... with a vengeance."
Mineko shook out her head, trying to muster a smile to give to Erika. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's nice for it to have felt like it's supposed to. I hope I'm making sense and don't sound like a pansy. I prefer thinking things through rather than brawling through them. But it's comforting to know there's a satisfaction in gouging the enemies eyes out... Well, I guess I just point and shot, but you get it." She desperately hoped Erika did get it, but a nagging part of Mineko believed she wouldn't.
Erika rolled back, her backside contacting the ground as she got comfortable beside Mineko and took a deep breath before letting out an exhausted sigh. “Mineko, I’m not even 2 years old, as I said, fresh out of the vat. There is a lot that I don’t know yet, a lot that I never want to know. What I think is that we all have our parts to play, we each have our own battlefield, not all of them are on the front lines. Maybe we're thrust there anyway and we just have do our best.”
Erika's words were gratifying to Mineko and had the same composed yet flexible air to them that she was coming to appreciate from the operative. She pondered them as she looked wistfully at the red-leafed bonsai in the corner, considering how much less she wanted to overthink everything she did and wanted to do. Not a moment into the act, she realized the problem with thinking about overthinking. If Mineko were to take Erika's words to heart, not everything was meant to be analyzed.
"You're pretty wise for a two year old." Mineko said.
Erika chortled "If you compare me to a fortune cookie perhaps."
With a sigh of her own, she had copied Erika and laid back. Now she was looking at the fog between her and the ceiling, her thoughts almost as empty as the pale visage before her. "Sorry to lay that all on you. Been dealing with what it's like to know the stuff you never want to know." She repeated Erika's words, but didn't let the memory of the bridge dying around her from days ago creep back into her consciousness.
Instead Mineko asked, "Anything you do want to know? I guess a better question is, anything you want to see? Or places you want to go?"
Erika closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath "I want to go to a desert." She said wistfully "Pleanty of supplies, an enclosed vehicle with air conditioning, sure. But there is just something about driving into an endless expanse of shifting sand I feel appealing. Snowball fight is also up there, Arctic SERE training was very serious business. Something about temperature extremes I like. Don't know what it is. Sakura trees in Autumn," she began to list off on her fingers, "an Aurora. Oh! I want to learn how to cook!" The last one Erika said excitedly.
A pleasant smile had appeared on Mineko's pale face and she hummed happily as Erika listed off what she would like to see and do in her future. She had put her hands behind her head and her blue and red eyes had closed happily.
"If we're both still on the ship come Year End Holidays, I'll take you to Kaiko park for a snowball fight. I can't guarantee the people throwing the snowballs at you won't be overly serious, though. They've got a good reputation for Hanami there, too, but Year End is sooner. The rest of your list, well I think you'll get 'thrust there anyway' or whatever it is you said." Mineko laughed at her reiteration.
"Perks of the job." Erika replied with a grin.
"The least I can do is show you to the wardroom as the galley's connected. The ship chef isn't who I would learn to cook from, so I'd recommend practicing alone." Mineko had stood and stretched her arms out, inhaling deeply. Something in her ached for a longer stretch, which reminded her, "Up one deck are places to get a workout in like the dojo and VR room, but also a second monitoring room. Think second bridge in case the first one is compromised. Or if you want to work at a bridge console and also be in the plushest most comfortable chair in the ship. Either or, that's the place to go. If you want to go up, I can show you. Otherwise I'll send you some of my memories of walking the hallways to get to each of those places."
"Probably the wardroom, despite your glowing review." Erika lifted her legs up in the air and planted her hands down either side of her head. She then pushed off the ground, her body gaining enough air time for her to pull her legs in, tuck them under and get to her feet. "Need to think about getting well rested before my first duty shift at this post. Make a good first impression and all that. Memories are fine,” her lips then curled into a smirk, “and out of respect for my fellow SAINT, I won’t resort to deceit and be upfront; I will likely over-analyse them for any interesting information you forgot to scrub.”
Walking down the hallway, Mineko's laughter spilled out of her unexpectedly. She had begun to sweep her own memories for any superfluous recollections from up above, just to give Erika something more to think about.
"I appreciate the honesty and am relieved to know you've got a knack for overanalyzing like me. Along with a knack for pummeling the enemy and maintaining a cool attitude, it's impressive." Though Mineko only identified with the former attribute, she did imply the rest applied to her when she said, "It's nice to not be alone on those fronts." They were down the zero g passageway faster than Mineko expected and she was suprised to smell dinner being made a bit earlier than usual. There was a buffet spread set out for crewmen to pick at after battle. She had said her last words upon entering the wardroom, which had a few Resurgence crew tucking into heaping piles of food.
Erika shrugged "Maybe I just hide my terror better."
"Maybe, something to think about," Mineko said, not sure if she meant whether she or Erika should think on it. "Are those meatballs?" Mineko asked from afar, honing in on the protein. Mineko used the digital telepathy again to coverlty further share her true feelings about the lack of clean eating aboard the Resurgence, "The meals here are more Nepleslian than Yamataian, I swear."
Erika chuckled softly, watching as Mineko meticulously navigated her way around the tangled nest of pasta to rescue the meatballs. “Can’t say I disapprove, though pasta is sometimes alright.” She said wordlessly over the link, dishing out her own serving, though with a much smaller pasta to meatball ratio than the chief had intended. “I had gnocchi once; the texture was divine. Also, can’t go past a good beef ramen bowl.” With the coms she also shared her recollections of those meals as she collected a pair of chopsticks.
"It's really that good?!" Mineko said aloud, mouth agape afterwards. "Maybe I'll have to try some, I know there are some near the park that my friends back on Yamatai liked. I will say there's nothing like warm miso soup on a cold day, so it's gotta be something we hit up after a snowball match." After meticulously pulled them from the tangled mess of spaghetti noodles they were surrounded by.She spooned on some steamed greens before waiting for Erika and carrying her plate to one of the tables near the center of the wardroom.
"Check it out," Mineko paused and purposefully stubbed her toe against the porthole of clear zesuaium on the wardroom's floor, then sat down. "Starships don't have a lot of windows, but rumor is that Hanako wanted a window in the floor of wardrooms so when you're orbiting a planet, you can see it below. Reason the wardroom is on the bottom deck and all, too." Through the window in the flooring stars raced by as the Resurgence sped towards home.
"I did notice." Erika smirked, taking a quick glance down. "My stomach dropped through my feet when we stepped in, but I didn't say a thing as 'I don't want you to think I'm a panzy'." Her voice lowered to a breathless whisper as she repeated Minkeo's earlier comment back. "Acrophobics need not apply I suppose, but I bet you get great views of auroras during a polar orbit."
"So no squirrel suit aerial dives with you, then, I got it!" Mineko noted.
"Oh hell no, you're not leaving me out! I live for that!" Erika protested enthusiastically. She dropped her plate across the table from Mineko, taking the disposable chopsticks from their wrapper. She bashed the end of them on the table, pulling them apart at the same time, causing them to perfectly split down the middle. The lower one then danced in her hand to orient itself correctly while she brought the other over to the top. She pinched a meat ball with the sticks and practically tossed it in her mouth before humming pleasantly at the taste.
"So is it just the excessive carbs or is there something I'm missing?" Erika said over the link as she chewed, relaying the flavorsome tomato sauce and succulent meat she was experiencing along with it.
Though Mineko had been munching along on her own food, she crinkled her nose when the topic of her food preferences came up and Erika relayed the taste of the meal on her plate.
"Somehow that doesn't feel as tasty as the gnocchi. It's just so heavy, all of it!" Mineko said through their mind link. "Like I mentioned, I lived on Yamatai awhile. I took dance lessons when I was in the orphanage and I kept at them and lived in the okiya, or lodging, of my instructor. There I ate whatever they fed me. It was usually some flat fish, pickled vegetables, and broth, nothing too heavy. On holidays and special occasions, we'd have red bean rice and sea bream, though," she said this with crescent shaped eyes as her recollection had brough a smile to her face that raised up to her eyes.
Out of her reverie, she became a bit more self aware, "Do I sound like a picky eater? I'm not! I guess it's more about what I'm used to. This heavy sort of cooking Rossa's so good at makes it hard to move or even think, though. I guess it's a carb thing, but also an everything else thing. How am I alone in this?!" At the last part Mineko hung her head back and looked at Erika with feigned anguish splashed across her features.
Erika covered her mouth as she stifled a laugh. "No no, I get it. I will often gravitate towards leaner meals myself. Gotta stay light on my feet. Saying that," she sighed wistfully, looking off to the side, "there is nothing like having something heavy and going into a food coma after a long op." her gaze returned to her meal as she took another meatball between her chopsticks "I have yet to suffer through even one meal aboard this ship, so I'll refrain from condemning your pallet until I've settled into the routine, eh?"
"That's a good point," Mineko said, again considering Erika's flexibility a boon conversationally. "Wait until you've been here a week, then we'll see. Speaking of, crazy first hour or so aboard for you. I won't think you're a pansy you were even the eensiest bit freaked."
"I just have a high surface tension. The waters are turbulent beneath" Erika replied with a somewhat melancholic smile on her face before taking a breath. "Today was a blur, I've yet to process it all. Who know's? Tomorrow I might have a break down and they have to restore me from a back up. But in the moment, I was trained for it, I was made for it, I just did what came naturally... or rather what was engineered."
There was then a pause, she spent a few moments looking at the plate a few strands of spaghetti wrapped around a meatball. She then pushed the plate from her before looking up at Mineko with a thin smile. "Thanks for the tour Mineko. I think I'm going to turn in."
The analyst's own eyes fell on the spaghetti and meatballs on the operative's plate silently, taking in Erika's words. Mineko's mind went to what Erika might be thinking and put her own utensil down, not taking another bite.
"Still waters run deep," Mineko said aloud in a quiet voice barren of inflection. Mineko had seen others on the ship verging on break downs or reaching them, but something told her Erika wouldn't be the next to succumb. Even if the horrors of war and burdens of memories fell on their shoulders, something about their shared panel color made Mineko believe they had to hold a strong face for the rest of the crew. If the person who's supposed to know everything and can do anything betrays hesitation, how would that affect them?
Changing the subject, she added, "The bunk above me is open and so is Sanda's. She's the ranger with the blue on her face and sharing our room. Get some rest, though. You deserved it. And thanks for being so cool. We just met but it feels like I've known you awhile." It made Mineko feel less alone to say this and feel it, too.
"Thank you for the tour." Erika said with a genuine smile as she got to her feet "I'll be relying on you senpai." She stuck her hand out with a peace sign as she gave Mineko a wink as she exited the ward room.
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JP END
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OOC: JP by Ametheliana and Sunny D
